1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to toy helicopters. More particularly, the present invention relates to toy helicopters having rotors that are manually thrown as a boomerang.
2. Prior Art Description
Boomerangs have been used by the aboriginal peoples of Australia for thousands of years.
Boomerangs were originally developed as hunting tools. However, due to the looped flight pattern exhibited by a boomerang, boomerangs have significant play value and have therefore been commercialized as toys.
Originally, hunting boomerangs were carved out of wood and were intentionally made heavy so they would cause injury upon impact. Boomerangs designed as toys are made much smaller and lighter than hunting boomerangs. Furthermore, toy boomerangs are often made of soft plastic or foam to ensure that the boomerangs do not cause injury upon impact.
The original wooden boomerangs are generally V-shaped, having two intersecting wings. It has been discovered that when such a boomerang configuration is made of lightweight plastic or foam, the boomerang no longer flies in the looped path characteristic of a traditional boomerang.
In order to make a lightweight boomerang fly in a manner characteristic of a traditional wooden boomerang, the number of wings radially extending from the boomerang must be increased to three, four, or five. Furthermore, the wings must by symmetrically disposed about a common center point. By providing each wing with a shape of an airfoil, the toy boomerang will fly following a looped path. Such prior art toy boomerangs are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,403,910 to Claycomb, entitled Toy Boomerang, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,573 to Adler, entitled Boomerang.
In an attempt to increase the play value of a toy boomerang, toy manufacturers experimented with adding secondary objects to the toy boomerang. For example, helicopter bodies were connected to the bottom of the toy boomerang so that the toy boomerang would look like a helicopter in flight. Such prior art patents are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,682 to Schentrup, entitled Helicopter Toy.
A problem associated with connecting a secondary object to a toy boomerang is that the weight and the aerodynamic drag caused by the presence of the secondary object tends to hold the spinning wings of the toy boomerang into a single plane during flight. This causes the toy boomerang to fly in a straight line rather than to fly in the looped flight path characteristic of a traditional boomerang. Furthermore, since the mass of the rotors is greater than the mass of the secondary object, the toy is top heavy in flight. Consequently, such toys have a propensity to crash land or land upside down at the end of a throw.
A need therefore exists for a toy construction having a boomerang that can be joined to a secondary object, such as a helicopter body, wherein the presence of the secondary object does not inhibit the toy from flying in a looped path or inhibit the toy from landing upright. This need is met by the present invention as described and claimed below.